


No Dancing

by ineptshieldmaid



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Gen, Oblique communication, friendship for spiky people
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-16
Updated: 2016-12-16
Packaged: 2018-09-08 21:00:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8861884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ineptshieldmaid/pseuds/ineptshieldmaid
Summary: ‘I think people are dancing,’ Otabek says.‘I’m not dancing with you!’ Yuri yelps, and then realises that Otabek never said he wanted to dance with Yuri. Good. Yuri doesn’t want to dance with him. Or anyone. No dancing. ‘No dancing,’ Otabek says, apparently reading Yuri’s mind. They stare at each other for another moment.‘You want to get out of here?’ Yuri says, and then braces himself for - for what, he doesn’t know. Mockery, perhaps. Too-enthusiastic agreement. Anything.





	

1.

‘What just happened in there?’

‘The same thing that happens every time those two show up.’ Yuri doesn’t bother keeping his voice down; Viktor and the pig won’t hear him over the sound of making kissy faces at each other. ‘Something utterly disgusting.’

Otabek doesn’t say anything to that, just nods, and keeps walking. The lot of them are trailing along in some kind of crocodile formation, like kids on an excursion: Vikor and the pig out front, and the rest trailing behind. At least they shook off JJ outside the cafe.

‘My bike,’ Otabek says, after half a block. ‘It’s the other way.’

There’s a moment’s pause; apparently Yuri was supposed to say something to that. ‘Are you waiting for my permission to go get it, then?’

‘Are you coming with me, or not?’

Yuri blinks; thinks for a second what Yakov will say if he shows up at the hotel later than everyone else; looks at Viktor and the pig in front of him; and says, ‘yeah, okay.’

2\. 

The thing is, winning medals is great; attending skating banquets is totally overrated. Particularly Grand Prix Final banquets which somehow, for the second year in a row, turn into a giant spectacle focused on the ridiculous mating dance antics of Viktor Nikiforov and Yuri Katsuki. For bonus points, Yakov and Lillia aren’t speaking to each other, and both want Yuri to parade around on their arm while they talk about his record-breaking short program, yadda yadda yadda.

Otabek looks like he’s having about as much fun as Yuri is. But then, Otabek never really looks like he’s having fun. Maybe he’s having the time of his life.

‘I think people are dancing,’ Otabek says.

‘I’m not dancing with you!’ Yuri yelps, and then realises that Otabek never said he _wanted_ to dance with Yuri. Good. Yuri doesn’t want to dance with him. Or anyone. No dancing. 

‘No dancing,’ Otabek says, apparently reading Yuri’s mind. They stare at each other for another moment.

‘You want to get out of here?’ Yuri says, and then braces himself for - for what, he doesn’t know. Mockery, perhaps. Too-enthusiastic agreement. Anything.

‘Yeah,’ Otabek says. ‘I want churros. Come with me?’

It’s that easy, apparently.

3\. 

‘What are you doing here?’

‘Looking for you.’ Otabek says this like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. 

‘How? Why?’ Yuri folds his arms, glaring at his friend. He has another motorbike. He must hire different ones in every city. What kind of person even does that?

‘I followed the selfie trail, same as them.’ Otabek jerks his head toward the cluster of girls Yuri’s trying to ignore.

‘Why are you even in this country?’ 

‘You might not have heard,’ Otabek says, ‘but there’s a major ice skating event tomorrow. The European Championships. I’ve got tickets.’

‘You’ve got tickets,’ Yuri repeats. ‘To watch the Euros.’ 

‘I brought my mother.’

‘You brought your mother to watch the Euros.’ And didn’t tell _me_ about it, Yuri doesn’t add. Now that Yuri thinks about it, Otabek doesn’t tell him much about, well anything. How can one person talk to you so often and tell you so damn little? 

‘Yes.’

‘Why?’ 

‘She needed a holiday.’

Yuri wants to scream. He doesn’t care what Otabek’s mother needs. He wants to know why the hell Otabek has turned up to watch a competition he isn’t competing in, and will never compete in. Is he scoping out the competition for Worlds? Is that a thing people do now? What can he learn here that he can’t learn from the video footage later?

‘Are you coming with me, or not?’

Automatically, Yuri takes the helmet he’s offered, and is on the back of the motorbike before he quite realises what he’s doing. The gaggle of fans shriek and take about a million pictures. Great.

‘Where are we going?’ Yuri shouts, into Otabek’s ear.

He doesn’t catch the answer, but it involves the word ‘mother’. Yuri is in deep, deep shit.

4.

15:37: If I have to spend one more day watching Mila suck face with this guy I will murder both of them.

Otabek, 15:40: Murder’s illegal.

15:42: Why do you think they’re still alive so far?

Otabek, 15:45: If you need to go on the run, you know where I am.

15:55: I don’t, actually. I mean. Khazakstan? Somewhere?

Otabek, 15:58: Almaty. It’s not that big a city.

16:02: So what am I supposed to do, turn up at the airport and shout?

Otabek, 16:04: Turn up and post selfies until I find you?

16:06: You have some weird hobbies.

Otabek, 16:08: You have my phone number. You can call it. If you need to find me to hide a body. Or if you want to talk to me.

16:09: No one uses phones to talk with anymore, how old _are_ you?

Otabek, 16:13: Nineteen. I use phones to talk with.

16:15: You talk to people?

16:16: Wait, you had a birthday without telling me?

Otabek, 16:17: You had one without telling me.

16:18: I posted selfies!

Otabek, 16:21: Selfies don’t sing Happy Birthday.

16.23: … you not only call people, you _sing_ on the phone? Why did I ever give you my number?

Otabek, 16:25: My dashing good looks.

16:26: Of course.

5.

‘We’re going sightseeing.’

‘We’re in fucking Wisconsin, there’s nothing to see.’ Yuri leaves Otabek standing in his hotel doorway, and flings himself back down on the bed. There are cartoons on the TV. They’re terrible. 

‘Apparently there’s a statue of postmen.’

‘Thrill me now.’

Otabek gives up, and steps inside the room a little. ‘Yuri,’ he says, hesitantly. ‘Are you…?’

If he finishes with ‘okay,’ Yuri is going to kill him.

‘And where do you get off barging in here and telling me what we’re doing, anyway?’ Yuri says, glaring at the ceiling. ‘Maybe I have better plans.’

‘Do you?’ Otabek sounds so damn reasonable Yuri wants to punch him.

‘Chilling out! Updating my twitter! Watching cartoons! Anything but looking at statues of fucking postmen!’

‘... okay.’ 

There’s a couple of second’s silence. Otabek does not go away.

‘Can I join you, then?’ he asks, instead.

‘Ugggghhh, fine.’ Yuri shuffles over on the bed, and Otabek sits down next to him. Another awkward moment passes, then Otabek pulls out his own phone, and becomes utterly absorbed in doing whatever it is he does on there other than liking Yuri’s selfies.

Yuri is resolved to be angry with him, although he’s not sure why. About ten minutes later, though, he finds himself rolling over, holding out his phone for Otabek to see. ‘Would you look at that? Who does he even think he is?’ He gestures at a comment on one of his instagram posts, the one he’d made on arrival in Wisconsin. It’s from Mila’s face-sucking partner.

‘He wants you to… eat cheese?’

‘As if I’d eat cheese before a competition.’

‘As if you’d eat American cheese in the first place.’

They snicker together for a moment. Otabek’s an okay guy.

‘Hey, take a selfie with me?’ Yuri says, and sprawls himself half over Otabek’s chest.

‘Your fangirls are going to have conniptions,’ Otabek warns.

‘I know, why do you think I do it?’

Otabek makes bunny ears behind Yuri’s head.

6.

Yuri stares down at the phone in his hand, telling himself he’s being reserved and careful, not staring at his own electronics like they might bite him.

‘Hey.’ Otabek, somehow, doesn’t sound surprised. He sounds… well, half asleep, actually, although it’s mid-afternoon in China.

‘Hey.’

‘You called me. On the phone.’

‘I did.’

‘It’s not my birthday.’

‘I’m not going to sing.’

‘Good.’

‘Bek?’ Yuri finds, to his surprise, that he’s smiling down at his phone. Which is deeply disturbing and worryingly reminiscent of the way Viktor gawps at his phone whenever Katsuki’s awake and texting.

‘Yeah?’

‘Good luck. Tomorrow. With the skating.’

‘Ah, yes,’ Otabek says, ‘the skating.’ If Yuri didn’t know him so well, he might not hear the tiny shift in tone that says he’s teasing. 

‘I mean it. If you let JJ beat you I’ll skin you alive,’ Yuri says, fiercely.

‘I’ll keep that in mind.’ Otabek pauses for a second, then adds, ‘Thank you.’

‘Yeah, well, don’t get used to it.’ 

‘I gotta go,’ Otabek says, sounding actually regretful. ‘I’ll call you before the NHK, okay?’

Yuri is surprised to find that that is okay. Good, even. ‘Sure,’ he says. ‘Don’t fuck this up, Altin.’

‘The skating I can handle.’ There’s a hint of amusement in Otabek’s voice again. ‘Calling you, that’s a challenge.’


End file.
